Taking Flight
by Suki59
Summary: This is in response to the weekly one-shot challenge # 19: Accept that some days you are the pigeon and some days the statue. Sookie makes a big decision after facing a dark past.


Charlaine Harris owns these characters.

This is in response to the weekly one-shot challenge # 19: Accept that some days you are the pigeon and some days the statue.

Sookie

I'm tired of feeling like the statue. I've tried to forgive and forget, but the harder I try, the more I keep coming back to the same solution. I want to be the pigeon.

I left Bon Temps eight years ago to find a new life. I left a vampire that I loved, a life that I had grown used to, friends and family who loved me. I wanted normal and Quinn was the closest thing I could find. He made me an offer I couldn't refuse.

I began my life in Memphis as a blushing bride. Few people believed that blush however when I delivered our son six months later. Would I have married Quinn if it weren't for the baby? I doubt it. But that's what happened and second-guessing it now makes no difference.

Quinn was killed when John was only four. I mourned for him. I had loved him in my own way and he was a good husband and father. He died defending his mother which was honorable. They're both dead now, so I don't suppose it matters.

I took John to the tiny town of Bear Creek in the mountains outside of Knoxville. I thought it would seem familiar to me being so small, and I thought we'd be safe there. The irony is that I was running from the supernatural world where I assumed John would be in danger. And, wouldn't you know it, it was just a regular human who killed him in the end. Just a sick twisted run-of-the-mill child killer in a tiny town with no bears and no creeks.

The sheriff did question him and I waited for justice. I knew what was in his mind the day he came into the restaurant. I spilled iced tea on him so I could touch his arm with the rag to be sure and it was then that I saw John as well as several other children doing things no human should see.

I've been the statue for long enough. Justice isn't coming and I can't take what I know and how I learned it to law enforcement. I'm taking it elsewhere.

Eric

I could feel Sookie's presence the night she came to Fangtasia. We wordlessly walked back to my office together. Once alone, I took her in my arms and told her how much I'd missed her.

She wasn't the same Sookie. She was hard and serious and tired. When she told me why, I offered to help her. I would do anything for her and nothing would give me greater pleasure than taking care of her problem. But she said she wanted to be the pigeon and I got that. Revenge is something a vampire understands.

She gave me his information in case something went wrong and I promised to do as she asked. Then we drove to my house in silence. I wanted to make love to her one last time, but felt it was wrong of me to ask. It pleased me when she made the first overture, and it was as sweet as I had remembered and imagined hundreds of times since she left me. I told her I loved her and was surprised when she repeated my words back to me. It pleased me that she was not completely broken and could still love and I told her so.

I questioned her to be certain that she was sure and I had never felt her more determined to do anything since I'd known her. She was unwavering. And of course I would do anything she asked.

It was nothing like Pam's turning. There was no struggle. There were no tears. We were already bonded and loved each other and so it was powerful and moving. I had a moment of sadness just after she was gone but it was replaced quickly with a surge of joy knowing that we finally had a future together. I had given up on that hope years ago, and here in the span of a few short hours, my eternity had changed drastically. Selfishly, I was thrilled although I couldn't help but wish that the circumstances had been different.

That was three nights ago. Now I wait with a champagne flute of O negative and a red rose. She looks like an angel sleeping on my bed. I've always prided myself on being a patient man, but now I am nervous. I know that we have a task to perform. I already have our flights booked for tomorrow night. I know that that will be her focus at first and I understand why. But beyond that, we have a life to plan together. I have a second chance to love her. I am happy for the first time in many centuries. I watch her stir. Her eyes open. She sees me and smiles. Yes, this is best. This is right. We're together at last.

XXX

A/N: I know that these weekly one-shot challenges are not to be expanded beyond one chapter, but according to the rules, they can be companion pieces to our other stories. Having said that, I hope you'll enjoy my story, Sookie's Turn, after reading Taking Flight.


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